Sandton pips Clifton

NELSON Mandela Square - in the heart of Sandton - now ranks among the most expensive residential real estate destinations in Africa following the sale of a penthouse apartment in the new Da Vinci development for a staggering R50m to a British buyer.

The off-plan sale of the 650sq m unit sets a new record for sectional title prices in Gauteng and translates into a rate of around R77 000/sq m. The R50m price tag comfortably overtakes the previous high of R36m paid earlier this year for a 500sq m unit (R72 000/sq m) at neighbouring Michelangelo Towers, also on Nelson Mandela Square. The same unit was originally sold off-plan less than three years ago for R25m.

Although the R50m Da Vinci sale is still way below the record R111m paid at end-2008 for the 800sq m penthouse on the top floor of Sol Kerzner's new One & Only Hotel at Cape Town's V&A Waterfront, it has pipped the previous high ever achieved for a sectional title sale in SA: a 716sq m unit sold late last year for R48m in the swanky Eventide apartment building on Clifton's Victoria Road.

The R50m penthouse is one of 55 luxury units currently being built on top of the Legacy group's new six-level Da Vinci Hotel. Only 10 units remain unsold, with prices starting at R2,5m.

Samuel Seeff, chairman of Seeff Properties, who sold the R111m One & Only apartment last year, says although there's been a significant increase in the prices of premier properties in big-ticket suburbs over recent years, SA still offers huge value in global terms. Seeff notes that while SA's rand/sq m rate at the upper end is between R60 000 and R100 000, trophy homes of similar quality in London, Paris, Cannes, Sydney and Hong Kong would set you back up to R400 000/sq m.